CNC Plasma Cut Vintage Motorcycle Figures

[Plasmaman]

I cut out these 19" long figures from 1/8" steel. I wanted to see how much detail I could fit into this size piece with plasma, which produces a kerf width of about .050".

[Ste]

Come on people, it's not spam, he's not trying to sell anything.

[WD Forte]

Spam? really?
The guy just seems to be sharing his interests, I see no website or
price lists.
0.050" or 50 thou is 1.27mm, not bad for plasma so with that on a 19" (48Cm) plate
you should be able to get pretty good detail.
How do you create the vectors and what sort of post processing/clean up do you have to do?
Not my kind of thing, but the method is interesting nonetheless.

It reminded me of a box top design experiment I carved out on my wee cnc and had forgotten about
until now so just dug it out ( must put the hinges back on if I can find the buggers)

Its just under 10" long and the top is white faced hardboard
The cuts were filled with black boot polish then clear acrylic laquer sprayed over
it all which gave it a ceramic tile look.

https://imgur.com/X3n9ypE.jpg
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bikers smell of wee

[Plasmaman]

I used CorelDraw to trace lines over a photo of the actual bike. All lines and internal shapes had to be .150" apart to be sure they wouldn't run together. I used FlashcutCNC software to generate the G'code and cut out the shape.

I have to tap the dross off after cutting, and use isopropyl alcohol and a Scotchbrite pad to clean up both sides.

WD - that's a great looking piece of yours.

[WD Forte]

Coreldraw eh? not familiar with that I use Adobe Creative suite
initially then Vectric Aspire which does have a vectorising function
( like Illustrator) but it's far from perfect and often needs to be 'hand finished' especially if you're working with bitmaps as a source.
I've tried Inkscape too but haven't found a magic tool yet.

Finally I pass it to Mach3 to run the toolpaths and hope it comes
out as I wanted
(got a big box of off cuts where it didnt)

I would imagine developing the bridges and voids is the most time consuming of the vectorising process just as in making stencils
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bikers smell of wee

[Plasmaman]

I suppose I use CorelDraw because I am quite familiar with it, and produces 2D dxf files which are dead nuts on it terms of dimensions.

I can scan bitmaps with it, and get a workable exterior outline of the object if there is enough contrast. However, if the bitmap is a photo, as with the bikes, it is less work to manually trace the interior parts. I also have to move things around to get at least .150" between lines and interior shapes. Individual nodes can be manipulated down to almost microscopic adjustments.

Simple shapes like brackets and industrial parts are much simpler, but where's the fun in that?

[jeffyjeff]

What are these bikes?
I'm guessing (clockwise from 12:00) Vincent, Matchless, Norton Commando, ???, Indian Chief, Ariel Square Four, ???, Center:Triumph Tiger
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History shows again and again how nature points out the folly of men - BOC

[Polarbear]

Lovely stuff
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Triumph Trophy Launch Edition

[Plasmaman]

[ThunderGuts]

Impressive stuff. CorelDraw?! I remember using that in the 90s, seem to recall it had a rainbow coloured hot air balloon as the programme symbol in Windows 3.x. Ah, them were the days. I suspect the version you use is a bit more recent!
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TG.

[JustinW]

Very cool

[Fat Angry Scotsman]

[steve the grease]

Those bikes are very nice indeed. Our local blacksmith knocks bespoke items or regular sellers like these up by the dozen, Ive seen a Peugeot 205 that he did for someone with good detail, he seems to be able to produce pretty much any design from a windows font or a jpeg, within constraints of course. Biggest problem he has is the dust off the cutting fucks the gears on the chart plotter up.
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All the above is my personal opinion, you can see my lips move, but I'm talking out of my arse.
I've been riding, and fixing , bikes for 50 years, in that time the more I learn, the less I am absolutely sure of.....

[WD Forte]

[MilfHunter]

Oh there's a surprise the usual forum delinquents one of whom contributes very little are the first to the OP.
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Post nut clarity reveals everything.

[Plasmaman]

[Fat Angry Scotsman]

[stinkwheel]

Anyone noticed that the right hand side of most motorbikes seems more interesting and aesthetically pleasing people than the left?

I noticed this when i was trying to find pictures of how people had modified rear brake levers on classic trials bikes. Left side shots are way less common.

If I do an image search for BSA goldstar, 43 of the first 50 images are of the right hand side of the bike.
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“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.

[Ayrton]

[UncleFester]

Coreldraw ... the 90s called, it wants its drawing package back! Not used that in literally decades!!!!!
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2017 Z1000SX

[xX-Alex-Xx]

[Plasmaman]

I chose the right side of the above bikes for the same reasons. ThE Indian Chief’s right side was complicated by gear shift and brake linkages cutting across the motor, so I did the left side.

[Plasmaman]

I have always felt that a large part of the wonder and mystique of motorcycles died out when the heyday of British motorcycles passed.

The bloated Harley’s and fiberglass shrouded Honda’s, Suzuki’s, and Kawasaki’s don’t stir the soul as much as the slower, less reliable, but charismatic air cooled bikes I remember from my teenage years. I don’t know. Maybe it’s because I was a teenager.

[Mr Hammers]

[Plasmaman]